Sheet guiding device



Dec. 13, 1966 .1. A. 6158 SHEET GUIDING DEVICE Filed Aug. 14, 1964 INVENTOR Jo mes A. Gi bb ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,291,484 SHEET GUIDING DEVICE James A. Gibb, 142 W. Hills Road, Huntington Station, NY. Filed Aug. 14, 1964, Ser. No. 389,717 7 Claims. (Cl. 271-63) This invention relates generally to sheet handling machines such as high speed duplicating machines, offset printing presses and the like and more particularly to a paper guiding device utilized in conjunction therewith, said device being essentially directed to the orderly delivery of sheets leaving the ejector rolls of such machines.

Notwithstanding the application of heretofore known sheet guiding, handling and receiving procedures and mechanisms, sheets leaving the ejector rolls of an offset printing press, e.g., drop rapidly while in a forwardly sloped attitude, into the sheet receiving tray provided adjacently of said rolls, the trailing edge of each dropping sheet having a rising motion which frequently results in the leading edge of the following sheet colliding with said trailing edge. The elfect of such collisions is often a jam-up, which, of course, necessitates press stoppage and consequent down-time.

To the end of precluding jam-ups as previously encountered, the device according to the present invention functions to control the descent attitude of the sheets subsequent to their egress from the ejector rolls to their deposition into the receiving tray wherein the sheets stack one upon the other. More specifically, the paper guiding device disclosed herein decreases the drop rate of the individual ejected sheet by minimizing the angle of inclination of each sheet as it is deposited within the receiving tray. Further, in the event the rising tendency of the trailing edge of the descending sheet is not completely overcome by dint of the levelling action accomplished by the device, the latter will restrain said trailing edge against interference with the leading edge of the following sheet.

Accordingly, and consonant with the foregoing, the instant invention has for an object the provision of a sheet guiding device which can be readily installed transversely of the delivery end of the frame of a sheet handling machine and adjacently of the ejector rolls thereof.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet guiding device of the foregoing character which is adjustable to accommodate various machine sizes and wherein the guide fingers thereof are also adjustable to enable utilization of the device with various sheet sizes.

A further object of this invention resides in the provision of a sheet guiding device which can be installed on an offset printing press without the need of special tools and without requiring any modification of the printing press.

Another general object of the present invention is to provide a device of the described character which will be simple in structure, economical of manufacture and highly effective in use.

Other objects and advantages of the instant sheet guiding device will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice of the invention, the same being realised and attained by means of the structure defined and pointed out in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings referred to herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate one embodiment of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the delivery end of a sheet handling machine illustrating the sheet guiding device installed in conjunction therewith;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the sheet guiding device per se;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional fragmentary exploded and enlarged view of the expansible elongate bar according to the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a typical guide fingerspring clip combination; and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view thereof.

Referring now in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, FIGURE 1 shows the sheet guiding device installed on a sheet handling machine, the latter being designated generally by numeral 1 and FIGURE 2 illustrates the sheet or paper guiding device isolated from said machine and designated generally by numeral 10. With further reference to FIGURE 1, the sheet handling machine will be seen to include a frame 2, an ejector roll 4 journalled between opposite sides of said frame, and a paper receiving tray 6, said sheet guiding device being installed at the delivery end of said frame and disposed transversely thereof as shown, and being further positioned intermediate the paper receiving tray and the ejector roll and arranged in spaced parallelism with respect to the latter.

As illustrated in detail in FIGURE 1 of the accompanying drawings, the paper guiding device is comprised of elongate bar 8, said bar being integrally supported at either end thereof by blocks 12 and 14, respectively, each said blocks being provided with a vertically oriented bifurcated portion 16, the flanged front ends 18 of said frame being receivable within said bifurcated portions as shown in FIGURE 1, wing-head screws 26 being provided to permit removable securement of said blocks to the frame as shown and described.

To permit ready accommodation of the sheet guiding device to machines of the character illustrated, elongate bar 8 is formed of axially connectable sections 22 and 24, as shown in cross-section in FIGURE 3 of the drawings, axial bore 26 being disposed endwise of section 22 and coil spring 28 being receivable within said bore, reduced stem 30 which extends axially of section 24 being receivable within said bore to compressionally engage said spring whereby said sections will be opposingly biased and movable toward and away from one another as indicated by arrow 32 to thereby render said elongate bar expansible. Accordingly, in effectuating installation of the device, the sections 22 and 24 need merely be forced toward each other thereby temporarily reducing the length of bar 8 to facilitate placement of bifurcated blocks 12 and 14 with respect to the frame 2 of the printing press.

Guide finger assemblies 34, which extend horizontally of the elongate bar 8 as shown in FIGURE 1 will further be observed to be substantially parallel with respect to paper receiving tray 6. With reference now to FIGURES 4 and 5 of the drawings, it will be seen that each assembly includes a flat guide finger 36 which tapers to a point at one end, the other end thereof being integrally connected to spring biased clip 38, the latter having pressure portions 40 with a wire spring 42 therebetween and jaws 44 and 46, said jaws being slidably secured to said expansible elongate bar 8 as shown in the drawings. That is, arrows 48 and 50 illustrated in FIGURE 2 indicate that said guide finger assemblies 34 are movable upon bar 8 and therefore adjustably positionable thereon. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that said assemblies may be selectively spaced apart to align with edges 52 of the paper sheets 54 being run through the machine, and are therefore adjustable to accommodate the various transverse dimensions of diiferent paper stock.

Thus, it will be understood that the ejected sheet will be oriented and maintained in an horizontal or level attitude preceding the commencement of its descent within guide rails 56 of paper receiving tray 6 to thus assure a slow level descent and preclusion of a rise of trailing edge 58. Further, once each sheet has dropped between the pair of guide finger assemblies 34, 34 and beneath the respective tapered ends of the fiat guide finger 36 thereof, the latter will preclude the ascension of the trailing edge 58 of the sheet by dint of their overlying position with respect to the rear corners of the sheet. Hence, by virtue of the provision of said guide fingers, collision between the trailing edge 58 of the already ejected sheet with the leading edge 60 of the following sheet will be further avoided, and the orderly stacking of sheets and the obviation of jam-ups being thereby accomplished in a dual manner.

Although the preferred embodiment of the sheet guiding device has been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the forms, details, proportion and arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sheet handling machine including a frame, an ejector roll and a paper receiving tray, a paper guiding device at the delivery end of said frame and disposed transversely thereof, said guiding device being positioned intermediate the paper receiving tray and the ejector roll and being arranged in spaced parallelism with respect to the latter, said paper guiding device being comprised of an adjustably extensible elongate bar formed of two relatively movable connected sections, and a pair of horizontally extending guide fingers removably and slidably connected to said bar.

2. In a sheet handling machine including a frame, an ejector roll and a paper receiving tray, a paper guiding device at the delivery end of said frame and disposed transversely of said end, said guiding device being positioned intermediate the paper receiving tray and the ejector roll and being arranged in spaced parallelism with respect to the latter, said paper guiding device being comprised of an expansible elongate bar and a pair of horizontally extending guide fingers removably connected to said bar and normally disposed with respect thereto, each finger being tapered to a point at one end, the other end thereof being integrally connected to a spring biased clip, the jaws of the latter being slidably secured to said expansible elongate bar.

3. In a sheet handling machine including a frame, an ejector roll and a paper receiving tray; a paper guiding device at the delivery end of said frame and disposed transversely thereof, said guiding device being positioned intermediate the paper receiving tray and the ejector roll and being arranged in spaced parallelism with respect to the latter, said paper guidingdevice being comprised of an elongate bar, a vertically bifurcated block attached to said bar at each end thereof, each said blocks being respectively removably securable to opposite sides of the frame, portions of said frame being receivable within the bifurcated portion of each said block, respectively, and means to effect the securement of the blocks to said frame, and a pair of horizontally extending guide fingers removably and slidably connected to said bar.

4. In a sheet handling machine including a frame, an ejector roll and a paper receiving tray, a paper guiding device at the delivery end of said frame and disposed transversely thereof, said guiding device being positioned intermediate the paper receiving tray and the ejector roll and being arranged in spaced parallelism with respect to the latter, said paper guiding device being comprised of an elongate bar, a vertically bifurcated block attached to said bar at each end thereof, each said blocks being respectively removably secured to opposite sides of the frame, portions of said frame being received within the bifurcated portion of each said block, respectively, and means to effect the securement of the blocks to said frame, and a pair of horizontally extending guide fingers removably connected to said bar and normally disposed with respect thereto, each finger being integrally related with a respective spring biased clip, the jaws of the latter being slidably secured to said elongate bar.

5. A paper guiding device for sheet handling machines, comprised of an expansible elongate lbar formed of two relatively movable connected sections, means at each end of said bar for securing the device to the machine, and a plurality of substantially horizontally extending guide fingers removably and slidably connected to said bar.

6. A paper guiding device for sheet handling machines, comprising an elongate expansible bar formed of two axially connected sections, an axial bore disposed endwise of one section and a coil spring disposed within said bore, an end of said other section being received within said bore to compressionally engage said spring, and a pair of guide fingers slidingly connected to said bar.

7. A paper guiding device as set forth in claim 6 wherein each finger is integrally related with a respective spring biased clip, the jaws of the latter being secured to said expansible elongate bar.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1884 Cranston 271-59 2/1942 Shaffer 27186 M. HENSON WOOD, ]R., Primary Examiner. 

5. A PAPER GUIDING DEVICE FOR SHEET HANDLING MACHINES, COMPRISED OF AN EXPANSIBLE ELONGATE BAR FORMED OF TWO RELATIVELY MOVABLE CONNECTED SECTIONS, MEANS AT EACH END OF SAID BAR FOR SECURING THE DEVICE TO THE MACHINE, AND 